Michelin North America Extends Ultraflex Technology Line to High-Horsepower MFWA and 4WD Tractors

Thanks to Michelin North America, the first tire manufacturer to introduce high-flexing tires in North America, farmers now have the first standard-size Very-High Flexion (VF) option in tires for high horsepower MFWA and 4WD Tractors – the new MICHELIN® YieldBib™.

Designed to operate at up to 40 percent less air pressure than standard radials, the VF-class MICHELIN® YieldBib™, as a result, can reduce soil compaction and improve grip and traction with 45-degree lugs specifically engineered to deflect stubble.

“This is the same size as our standard radial, the MICHELIN® Agribib™,” said Bob Rees, North American product manager for Michelin. “But it features Michelin Ultraflex Technologies, so it is capable of so much more than any standard radial on the market, particularly because of its capacity to operate at such low air pressures. And less pressure means an expanded footprint for less compaction, resulting in more yield. Hence the MICHELIN® YieldBib™.”

Michelin placed its newest VF-class radial with target farmers in key states of Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. Tests conducted against a leading competitor tire in heavy stubble conditions showed that the MICHELIN® YieldBib™, delivers astounding benefits in terms of stubble resistance. Run side-by-side on the same tractor in the same field for the same hours, the competitor tires showed significant pecking, gouging and piercing, while the MICHELIN® YieldBib™ radials remained like new.

“Attendees of the Farm Progress Show will get to see the actual stubble test tires on display at the Michelin booth,” Rees said. “We’ll run a video showing the tests, and for those who can’t make the show, it will be available on Michelin Ag’s new YouTube site, launching during the show.”

David Rehn tested the MICHELIN® YieldBib™ radials in 2011 on his New Holland 9020 on his farm in Woodhull, Ill. He used this 335-hp tractor for everything from tillage and chiseling to anhydrous application, planting and harvesting. And with the front tires set at 10 psi and the rear tires set up at 8 psi, he said they not only held up well, but they outperformed competitive tires over the 200 wet-weather hours he logged that year.

“The thing I liked best was that my slippage dropped two-three points from where I had been in the past,” Rehn said. “I ran 7 percent to 9 percent slippage in really tough conditions, where a year ago it would have run from 12 percent to 15 percent with the competitor tires that I had. The MICHELIN® YieldBib™ radials give me better traction.”

But while the MICHELIN® YieldBib™ radials give him extra grip, they do so while reducing his soil compaction because of the low air pressures he’s able to run, which lengthen his footprint.

“The tires seem to spread the pressure out very well,” Rehn said. “I’m not getting a deep imprint that I can’t take out with my field cultivator. A lot of tires that I’ve had in the past, when I’ve field cultivated, I’d still see the track where I had just driven. Not with these.”

In neighboring Iowa, Arlyn Schipper also has found success with the MICHELIN® YieldBib™ radials.

“Compaction is a big issue for us, and we like that low-pressure tire,” he said. “It goes back to dollars per acre. If we don’t have the compaction, we get better yield. And the YieldBibs are durable. We have 6,000 hours on these, and they are not even half gone yet, and we do a lot of road work. The durability makes us more efficient, and they perform well.”

Nathan Reichling, who, with his father, Tom Reichling, has tested the MICHELIN® YieldBib™ radial for the past five years on his family’s farm near Sioux Falls, S.D., said he has put more than 2,300 hours on one set and is experiencing great results with fuel efficiency.

“Not only are we impressed with the durability of the MICHELIN® YieldBib™,” Nathan Reichling said, “but we are impressed at all the benefits that go along with it. We pay close attention to how much fuel we use, and we have almost doubled our fuel efficiency with the MICHELIN® YieldBib™. We now use about four tenths of a gallon per acre to plant corn, where with the competitor tires we were using six or seven tenths of a gallon. Same tractor, same outfit, same ground, just different tires.”

Introduced at the 2012 Farm Progress show, the MICHELIN® YieldBib™ radials are the research-and-development-driven innovator’s second introduction this year. It began the year by introducing the MICHELIN® CerexBib™ radial in February 2012, the first Cyclic Field Operation (CFO) and VF radial specifically for combines. The MICHELIN® CerexBib™ radials are engineered to stand up to the ever-changing weights that harvesters must endure, as well as the increasingly large and heavy headers with which larger combines are being equipped.

“This year’s tires, the CerexBib for harvest and the newest introduction, the YieldBib for high-horsepower tractors, join the Michelin Ultraflex Technologies line that includes the SprayBib for self-propelled sprayers, the AxioBib for four-wheel-drive tractors and the XeoBib for tractors, ” Rees explains. “Now farmers can rely on Michelin high-flexion tires for all their equipment applications year round to protect their soil and improve their performance.”

Dedicated to the improvement of sustainable mobility, Michelin designs, manufactures and sells tires for every type of vehicle, including airplanes, automobiles, bicycles, earthmovers, farm equipment, heavy-duty trucks and motorcycles. The company also publishes travel guides, hotel and restaurant guides, map and road atlases. Headquartered in Greenville, S.C., Michelin North America employs more than 22,300 and operates 18 major manufacturing plants in 16 locations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.